Sustainable Operations Management (SOM) : design, modelling and analysis

Nevertheless, there are not many articles that deal with modelling and analysis of SOM decision making at strategic, tactical and operational levels that are important for implementation of SOM decisions. The aim of this special issue is to help researchers and decision makers to understand the strategies, tactics and implementation processes involved in SOM decisions and the performance measures and metrics through modelling and analysis of SOM. With the help of these articles appearing in this special issue, one should be able to gain a better understanding of the issues involved in SOM and how to model and evaluate SOM decision-making environments and decisions through appropriate modelling and analysis of both manufacturing and service supply chains. The scope of the special issue is to present researchers and senior managers with conceptual modelling and analysis of various sustainable operations decisions and their performance outcomes in supply chains. This includes optimisation related to closed-loop chains, carbon footprinting of supply chains, life-cycle management, greening supply chains, green and reverse logistics, product and process development towards improving energy savings, efficiency of transport and other related areas. Emphasis is placed on sustainable operations design, modelling and analysis, optimisation, and their performance measurement in a supply chain. The special issue contains articles that cover the following topics:

1. Implications of SOM in the 21st century organisational competitiveness;
2. Modelling of performance measures and metrics in SOM;
3. Modelling and assessment of life-cycle perspectives of SOM;
4. Modelling of cost/benefit and risk considerations/realizsations in SOM;
5. Macro-economic or industry-wide modelling and assessment of sustainable policies and actions;
6. Justification for SOM through conceptual modelling and analysis through the use of OR techniques;
7. Selecting SOM alternatives through appropriate Operations Research modelling and analysis;
8. Models for studying the impact of sustainable operations initiatives and policies;
9. Optimal supply chain configuration from a strategic, tactical or operational perspective;
10. Performance measures and models for SOM decisions;
11. Partnership development for SOM through modelling and optimisation.

The 11 papers appearing in this special issue deal with the above issues of modelling and analysis of SOM. A brief summary of each article is presented below.

SOM can be defined as the operations strategies, tactics and techniques, and operational policies to support both the economic and the environmental objectives and goals. The subject of sustainability has gained much attention from both researchers and practitioners over the past 6–8 years. Most of the articles deal with sustainability from an environmental perspective, but not many of them integrate both economic and environmental implications. Moreover, there is a limited focus on modelling and analysis of SOM integrating the interests of both economic and environmental interests. To address this, Gunasekaran, Irani, Papadopoulos in their paper entitled Modelling and Analysis of Sustainable Operations Management: Certain Investigations for Research and Applications review the papers on modelling and analysis of SOM. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this paper to review the extant literature on SOM. The objective is to understand the definition of SOM and present the current status of research in modelling and analysis, as well as future research directions in the field. Considering the recent focus on the subject, they review the literature beginning in 2000 in order to make the study current and more relevant for both researchers and practitioners.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of the Operational Research Society.


By Angappa Gunasekaran & Zahir Irani
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Integrated model for implementation and development of knowledge management : Organizational modeling and EKD

According to Bubenko et al (2001), a model is a way to structure organizational knowledge in order to understand the holistic operations of a business or a business process. This model can never be the exact image of the real world but a collective perception, representing the benchmark, the experiences and the participants’ backgrounds.

EKD is a modeling methodology that provides a systematic way to analyse, understand, develop and document a business and its components (Bubenko et al, 2001; Stirna et al, 2007). It aims at a clear and unambiguous description of the business, what are the requirements and reasons for a particular change or new practice to be developed in the company, what are the alternatives that should be created to reach these requirements and what are the criteria and arguments used to evaluate these alternatives.

Among the main benefits, EKD allows: (a) a better understanding of the business; (b) an easier organizational learning process and a more effective communication on key issues; (c) a helpful understanding and a promotion of the capabilities and processes of the organization; (d) an improvement in communication among participants; (e) the development of a structured description of the business; and (f) a more accurate definition of the organization's goals, entities, processes and requirements.

The organizational model developed by the EKD methodology, shown in Figure 1, is composed of a number of sub-models or components that represent some particular aspect of the company. These sub-models, as well as issues related to them, are described below (Bubenko et al, 2001; Stirna et al, 2007):

1. Goals model: It focuses on the description of the organizational goals and the issues related to achieving them.
2. Concepts model: It is used to define ‘things’ and ‘phenomena’ addressed to the other models. Concepts may be tangible, for example, ‘car’, or intangible, for example, ‘knowledge’.
3. Business rules model: It is used to explicitly define and maintain business rules consistent with the Goals model. Rules may operate on or delimit goals. Business rules control the organizational actions.
4. Business process model: It is designed to analyse the processes’ interaction, information and materials. It allows a view of the activities and business processes that are or should be recognized in the organization in order for it to be managed according to its goals.
5. Actors and resources model: It defines the types of actors and resources involved in the business activity. This model describes how different actors and resources are related to each other and to the other models’ components.
6. Technical components and requirement model: It is an initial attempt to define the entire structure and the properties of the information system that will support business activities.

The evolution of research that resulted in the EKD methodology begins with the studies of Langefors (1968) who made important contributions to organizational modeling. In the early eighties, Plandata introduced the ABC method (Williars, 1988), which was enhanced by SISU (Swedish Institute for System Development) and later extended into an organizational modeling method in the Esprit Project F3 (From Fuzzy to Formal). The modeling method F3 (1994) was deepened in the Esprit Project ELKD, which was the base of the current version of the organizational modeling methodology EKD (Bubenko et al, 2001).

Different versions of the proposed methods have been applied in several European companies: British Aerospace (England), Capital Bank (England), National Bank of Greece, Postgirot (Sweden), Public Power Corporation (Greece), Sema Group (France), Telia (Sweden), Vattenfall (Swede), Volvo (Sweden) and so on.

Pádua et al (2004) made a comparison among the modeling techniques proposed in the literature (Table 2) and demonstrated the advantages of the EKD methodology.

Therefore, the choice of EKD methodology is grounded in Table 2, it is linked to the systemic features of EKD, its organizational learning and goals orientation, and especially because it is considered a methodology for managing organizational knowledge.

In the same context, it is important to show the evolution that EKD research has had in Brazil, mainly in the DECIDIR Research Group, of São Paulo University, School of Engineering of São Carlos, to which the authors of this article belong. EKD was used to generate models applied to several sectors and areas of the organization: the development of information systems (Pádua et al, 2004); process changes (Castro & Cazarini, 2005); the management of information systems (Campos & Cazarini, 2005); ERP systems (Castro & Cazarini, 2006); the construction of reference architectures for enterprise networks (Neves et al, 2006; Ganga et al, 2008); electronic commerce (Medrano & Cazarini, 2008); and decision making (Medrano & Cazarini, 2009).

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Knowledge Management Research & Practice or e-mail to medrano@sc.usp.br.

By Lucio Abimael Medrano Castillo & Edson Walmir Cazarini

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Identifying revenue opportunities via capacity analysis - Introduction

Capacity is defined as the output- or revenue-generating ability of an entity or a component thereof. It is a measure of the ability to produce goods, services and revenue.

Not all capacity concepts or components are created equal. Capacity's several components include, of course, the physical facilities that exist 24/7 although they may not be utilized 24/7 for various reasons. Because physical capacity is not easily adjusted in the short term, the notion of fixed physical capacity is central to much of the RM literature. Another component of capacity is personnel or the level of staffing provided to make the physical facilities operational. The amount of personnel capacity is discretionary and in many cases may be easily modified in the short term. Processes employed constitute a third component that affects how physical facilities and personnel are utilized to produce output.

Because they are internal to the organization, these three components of capacity depend on decisions made by management. A fourth capacity component is at least partially external: the supply chain (purchases) that reliably provides the goods and services necessary for the organization's outputs. Thus, we may think of the ‘four Ps’ of capacity:

1. Physical
2. Personnel
3. Processes
4. Purchases

 

Capacity illustration

To illustrate, observe that from a physical facilities viewpoint a restaurant's capacity consists of the size of its dining area and its kitchen. The number and capabilities of food preparation and service personnel also affect capacity. Processes utilized include the various techniques of preparing and delivering output. Although a fast-food restaurant's capacity differs from that of a fine dining restaurant of comparable size – a fast food outlet's physical capacity is able to serve more customers due to shorter preparation and service times – it will not necessarily produce more revenue. Finally, the ability to service customers depends on a steady and reliable supply of food and service products.

All four restaurant capacity components – physical facilities, personnel, processes and supply chain – interact to create the restaurant's revenue potential. Thus managing the revenue process requires measuring capacity on the various dimensions discussed above, and to analyze how those dimensions of capacity are being utilized. The CAM-I capacity model, discussed next, offers a useful framework for such analysis.

Summary and Conclusion

Building on the theme that proper consideration of capacity and its components is central to any effective RM scheme, we examined the insights provided by the CAM-I capacity model. The breakdown of capacity utilization into idle, non-productive and productive components provides a convenient framework for managerial review and analysis. Why is capacity idle? Are there impediments to its use? Should previous conclusions about the non-marketability of idle capacity be re-examined? Are there new and creative ways to put some idle capacity to work? How much capacity is non-productive and why? Can ways be found to convert non-productive time to productive? Analyses such as these can help identify new revenue opportunities. A CAM-I capacity analysis provides a straightforward framework for identifying revenue-generating enhancements without sophisticated mathematical analysis.

A further impact of capacity analysis is the recognition that capacity to generate revenues does not depend solely on physical facilities. Personnel, supply chain and processes also play a role; all four components should be considered.

Capacity analysis has its limitations. The analysis works best for entities where physical capacity directly limits revenues. Thus it is most readily applied in industries that have been the mainstream of the RM literature – airlines, hotels, restaurants, golf courses and the like. The analysis is also relevant to most manufacturing environments, although complicated by how multiple products impact the use of physical facilities. The most challenging applications lie in retail and service businesses, where physical assets play less of a role in RM. However, in such environments the other elements of capacity – personnel, supply chain and processes – may take on greater importance. More study is needed on these dimensions of capacity analysis.

Overall, capacity analysis, especially the CAM-I framework, can be a valuable tool for RM.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management or e-mail to rhuefne@buffalo.edu.

By Ronald J Huefner & James A Largay III

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Introduction - Perspectives on Big Data

‘Big Data’ has become a catchy term that, for the moment, retains some mystique and persuasive impact in use. For example, one could imagine hearing in a sales presentation, or at a conference or cocktail party, ‘big data is the key to success; harness big data and you harness the world; if you are not using big data, you are doomed; big data changes everything’. Similar to the way we perceive Twitter, online shopping, customer relationship management (CRM) systems and many other technology-related phenomena that have had their moments of hype, we believe that there is meaningful value in BD. However, we do not believe that BD’s impact is as near to solving the world’s problems as some might suggest. We expect that BD will continue to be a cool term to use in the short term.

We are not trying to shut down that practice. However, we are curious about what people associate with the term BD. Certainly it must communicate and reflect notions that people rally around and act on. What are these notions? Are they good? Bad? Ugly? Or, are they the Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Do they frame a valuable way to look at the world? Does BD, whatever it means to managers, scientists, researchers and others, motivate and enable actions that may become, or are, worthwhile and better than the status quo or rival alternatives?

Etymology

Before sharing the perspectives of the leading scholars that we interviewed, we feel that we would be remiss to not indicate some research into the etymology of the expression BD. Lohr (2013), who was curious about the origins of the term, finds roots in direct marketing and in technology. He cites a Harper’s Magazine article written by Erik Larson in 1989 that makes reference to junk mail and the direct-marketing industry, ‘The keepers of big data say they do it for the consumer’s benefit. But data have a way of being used for purposes other than originally intended’. However, Lohr rejects this as the origin of BD, writing, ‘Prescient indeed. But not, I don’t think, a use of the term that suggests an inkling of the technology we call Big Data today’.

He felt that credit was more appropriate to give to John Mashey, who was Chief Scientist at Silicon Graphics during the 1990s, as his use of the term reflected ‘not just a lot of data, but different types of data handled in new ways’. In addition, Lohr (2013) references Francis X. Diebold, who is the Paul F. Miller, Jr and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of Social Sciences, a Professor of Economics, and a Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, as the first to have published an academic research paper that includes the term ‘Big Data’.

A tale of two disciplines

Well, Lohr certainly explained how he arrived at his conclusion. A definition with a bias toward computer science and technology informs it. The scholars whom we interviewed explained that, indeed, multiple definitions of BD exist as a function of the discipline in which one operates. There appears to be a difference between what boils down to two groups – and probably some other groups as well. Those who are technology focused (for example, computer scientists, computer engineers) are fascinated more with the amount of data that can be stored; the speed with which data can be stored, accessed or manipulated; and the structure of data, among a variety of technology-related aspects. One might suggest that to them, it is all about the data. Managerial problem solvers (for example, marketing scientists, management scientists) are focused more on testing theory, making discoveries and solving problems. With respect to data, they might think, just show me the data!!!

Feit makes reference to some of those with a technology focus:People who are experts in storing and managing data, they mean something very specific by big data. They mean a very specific set of tools, and a different approach to structuring data. So they think of any kind of big table database, as opposed to a relational database, as big data. So for them, big data isn’t necessarily size, but it’s the structure. It turns out that one structure is more useful when the data gets large than another, and so they think of big data as intimately tied to how you structure it. And they structure it in one big table, which facilitates parallel computation.

Thompson elaborates further, suggesting an important distinction between those who promote or sell ‘data-related’ technology and those focused on the problems for which data can be used to help solve: There’s a very strong tendency to basically blur the distinction between what you’re talking about and the underlying technology. SAS has a page up on what are big data, and SAS, of course, is the original master of big data. When the human genome project was being done in the late 90’s, the result was going to be the largest database that had ever been constructed to date. SAS software was chosen for that, because it was the only software package that could handle, at that time, data files of that size, that much data, and actually process it. It was considered to be the paragon, the ultimate big data project, of course outside of what the National Security Agency does. So the thing about this is, is that if you go and you read, what is big data, much of that is written by the technology firm. The software companies, the hardware companies that are selling it. And so what they do is, is that they blur the distinction between the technology and the actual concept that the technology is designed to address. You see the same thing when we talk about communities."(For example,) companies selling software for online portals, basically treat the software as synonymous with the (meaning of a) community. (They see) community (as,) essentially, a software package, (as) a website. But of course in practice, community is a sociological construct. All the software does is, it provides a communications means for a community to potentially use to communicate. But just because people are using the software doesn’t mean they actually form a community. So what happens is, a lot of the definitions you see of big data are defined, not by big data or the managerial issue, or the concept itself, but rather, they define big data in terms of the product they’re selling, which is software and hardware … I would argue that one of the things that’s derailing the conversation about big data, both within the organization and academia, is a failure to distinguish between essentially the marketing speak of the firms selling the software and the hardware, and the actual underlying problem the software is meant to address (Technology providers) want to define the problem in technological terms.

Important components and attributes of BD

Perspectives aside, we all agree that data are part of a process that informs theory development and decision making. We believe that data should be considered only one part of the BD concept. The perspectives that we have heard from the marketing scholars whom we interviewed led us to believe that it could be beneficial to think of BD as a term that represents a period of time or era, a process, and some new wrinkles associated with components of that process. In this section, we draw attention to these components and new wrinkles.

Purpose

A first critical consideration of BD is the purpose of it. Little says, ‘I’m problem driven’. Lehmann quotes T.S. Eliot, ‘Where is the information that we have lost in the information’, in making the point that ‘people may get so obsessed with analyzing the data that they’ll forget why they are analyzing it, and why they want to know about particular relationships’. Moe states, ‘Think about what you’re trying to accomplish’. Duparcq adds, ‘All the new connected platforms in the world won’t make a difference if they can’t justify their existence by the value they create. This is no doubt the core challenge’. And Thompson emphasizes, ‘You need to start with a theory. Theory is what allows you to frame a meaningful question. If you start looking for answers, and you don’t know what the question is, you’ve got a problem’. With more data and richer data available through technologies today, BD enables the conceptualization of new problems and associated purpose, or, deeper exploration of pre-existing problems.

Data attributes

Indeed, it is important to be aware of certain characteristics, or nature, of the data associated with BD. Yes, there is the attribute of size. However, the ‘bigness’ of BD is, as Feinberg calls it, … a moving target. Remember when scanner data came out? That was big data. We were stunned. Like wow, tens of thousands of households and dozens of purchases. And now, you can fit all of that data on anyone’s phone. You may not be able to analyze it on someone’s phone, but you can certainly do it on any PC. It’s kind of a joke by today’s standards.

Lehmann concurs: When I was in school, I ran a five variable, one-hundred observation regression that took more than a day to run. That was BD at the time. Now, it is considered quite small. As computing power has increased, BD has become bigger. The problem is the same today as it was years ago.

Winer agrees as well: When people first started using the term big data, I kind of laughed a little bit, because big data sets, huge data sets have been around for a long time. If you take a look at the kind of data that, say, telecom companies have on all their customers, or airlines form loyalty programs, banks on their customers, it’s not new. I think what the term tends to be used for is maybe, at least my perception is, the integration of customer databases, which as I said have been around for a while, and other information that they may be able to get about customers through social media, through user generated content, trying to integrate the two. Even though the sort of cyberspace data is not generally at the individual level, it’s usually anonymous, I think that the incremental availability of huge amounts of information that are flowing across the internet is what really people are referring to as big data. So maybe the airline and banking and telecom data were big data, and now we’re in the era of really big data or huge data or something like that. But as I said, I don’t see it being revolutionary, as much as evolutionary.

And, similar to Winer, Duparcq likes to use a definition if BD that involves database integration and vast amounts of online data: The entirety of data that is collected on a singular individual, in a multitude of platforms (online traditional, online mobile, online new, internet capable connected devices, offline stores, offline media & credit card data), connected (all online and offline datasets in one database), correlated, and interpreted from both a single and larger group perspective.

Little commented, ‘In fact, I had an email from my co-author (of) years ago, Peter Guadagni, and he said, I think we were using big data’ (n.b., Guadagni and Little’s (1983) seminal paper was based on the analysis of scanner data).

Bradlow provides a more generalized notion of size that considers norms, One way I think about it, just from most users’ perspective … (and) I don’t want to call this a technical definition, but it’s kind of a technical layman’s definition, is, data that’s bigger than you can open up with standard software. To me, that’s big data. Can I not even open up the file using … Excel, or do I really need Hadoop and massive big data skills even to open up the file? So to me, the technical definition of big data is just, does it require specialized training just to kind of observe and look at the file? Now that’s not what I think most people mean. But to me, that’s my first definition. If I have to call over to my computer science department just to open up the file, that’s big.

Pitt has a similar perspective, I think it’s data that’s too big to fit into even the largest single database, or, if you want to think of it in simple terms, it’s too big to fit into even the very largest spreadsheet you could find. And I’d also say that it’s probably not analyzable by even the biggest computer in an organization. It probably has to be analyzed on something like clusters of different computers running special applications.

The data of BD are also different in terms of structure and form. Sawhney adds, ‘The data is coming from lots of unstructured sources’. Pitt points out that What makes this different to most of the data that marketing people are generally used to, is that it also has lots and lots of text to it. So it’s not just about numbers about what people are doing. It’s also text about what people are saying, and what they’re writing, and what they’re indicating by means of words.

Feinberg takes it a step further: So I think that the whole idea has been around for a long time … electronic data capture by the internet, and the ability to create databases from every single thing we do, that’s what’s really fueled this huge cusp, like all of a sudden, everyone’s talking about big data, because every single thing is captured. So if you capture an enormous amount of information, suddenly it’s big. ‘The reason we’re really in the era of big data is that we’re getting a lot of information on every single thing that every person does. And the ability to store that at low cost, and analyze it later, is what really is, to me, the functional definition of big data.

Duparcq provides some texture to the availability of consumer data:Consumers’ propensity to generate data will largely be determined by two important factors, (including) the amount of access points available (number of connected platforms and consumer’s willingness to adopt those platforms). The average time users spend online rising constantly, data generated during that time is steadily increasing as well. In the US, usage has increased from an average of 5.2 hours a week in 2001 to 19.6 hours in 2012. Part of that increase can be attributed to consumers finding more ways to make interactive media an important part of their daily habits: shopping, information, news, entertainment, social interaction, etc.

In addition to highlighting data attributes that partly distinguish or define BD, scholars note that a key distinction of BD may be in the analytical tools or techniques that are used to monitor, share and process the data and convert it into information. In concert with this, they call attention to the ‘speed’ of the data and a need to act on it swiftly. Winer remarks: It’s not so much the data that’s new. It’s the kind of tools that we have to analyze those data and react to the data in real time, or close to real time. So if a company is monitoring its comments about it on Twitter, they can immediately try to take corrective action by starting their own Twitter feeds, or putting out a message on a Facebook site, or that kind of thing. So, I think that that’s where the change is, not so much the fact that we’ve got more data.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Marketing Analytics or e-mail Bostongarden@gmail.com.

By Bruce D Weinberg, Lenita Davis & Paul D Berger

Repost by Acarre Community Media

Introduction - Building digital skills through training : opinion pieces

A dual market exists for training — digital marketers who need to grasp the full breadth of both online and offline activity and conventional marketers who need to skill-up for the digital realm. This article considers the differing needs of these groups and how well existing training resources are meeting them.

What is digital marketing?

So far, I’ve used the term digital marketing as if it covered one area. Just as with ‘conventional’ marketing, there are many digital marketing areas. They include:

• How marketing strategy is affected by the use of digital channels, in particular how the drive to use digital to reduce marketing costs may lead to reduced differentiation, even commoditization and consequent competitive weakness and lower margins and even revenues, and possibly to financial exposure because offline costs remain the same.
• How competitive marketing strategy is affected by the changes digital approaches allow you to make to business models, sometimes providing the ammunition to attack and bring down competitors, as many offline retailers and IT companies have discovered.
• How to plan digital marketing, covering how to develop and manage new ways of contacting and managing customers.
• How to manage different digital channels (eg, web, mobile, email), overall and in specialist technique areas, eg, search engine optimization, developing and managing apps.
• How to optimize across and within digital channels, including through accurate attribution and smart real-time bidding.
• Managing, analysing and presenting digital data, from developing insight to dashboard management. A key area here is to understand what the data is telling you, in particular staying open-minded about it and using classic market research to find out why the results are as they are.

The more technical the area, the more rapid the evolution of technique and so the more quickly training material can date, but the greater the possibility of new techniques distracting you from the essentials of competitive marketing.

In the last few months, the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing, of which I am an Honorary Life Fellow, has asked me to help with several digital marketing training programmes. It reminds me of when, 30 years ago, the demand for direct marketing training was surging, as big companies (some recently privatized, such as BT, British Gas and BA) implemented customer databases for the first time. They discovered how responsive customers were to relevant communications, but also that they needed to change the mindsets, knowledge and skills of large numbers of their people, at all levels. These people came from many backgrounds, including advertising, public relations, retailing, brand and product management, general and technical sales, telemarketing and, of course, customer service. A revolution had taken place in what they could do. A parallel revolution had to take place in what they were trained, able and motivated to do.

Becoming more professional in customer management

      This revolution then spread out by sector, as various market changes (privatization, deregulation and a general collapse of barriers to competition) forced companies to become much more professional in how they managed their customers. The skills also spread, with the industries that were strongest in direct marketing (eg, mail order, credit cards) losing some of their best people to industries that were desperate for their skills (eg, telecommunications, insurance, travel, utilities and, eventually, retailing).

Offline still delivering most revenue

      Today, a similar revolution in marketing, sales and service is taking place because of the growth of digital capabilities and their addition to — and in some cases substitution for — older ways of doing business. Therefore, companies face the same challenges they faced 30 years ago, as they wrestle with the continuous growth in channels, media, consumer touch-points and marketing technology. However, in many companies, offline ways of doing business (including direct marketing) still deliver most revenue and profit. This means digital (at least for the moment) must take its place alongside them.

Digital is not a bolt-on

      However, while digital techniques are becoming a key for success, for most companies the link between online and offline marketing is critical, as is the need to manage a combination of online and offline channels. Most customers do not separate their online and offline lives — they tend to mix these journeys. The few leading-edge companies that have a data management platform that combines the two sets of data have realized that they need skills and knowledge from both online and offline worlds in order to manage and use the data. A view that is either purely online or offline is a partial view. One issue here is that the new digital capabilities are often ‘bolted on’ to marketing departments, rather than integrated strategically.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice or e-mail merlin@merlin-stone.com.

By Merlin Stone

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Introduction - Giving too much social support: social overload on social networking sites

Social networking sites (SNS) have become well-established online services in the daily lives of individuals. A key functionality of SNS such as Facebook is networking with others (Koroleva et al, 2011). The primarily function of SNS is to post private or public messages to contacts (Krasnova et al, 2010; Tow et al, 2010). While some messages exchanged over SNS provide neutral information (I am waiting for the bus), others are social requests demanding reaction and assistance (Help me! I need an apartment in New York!, I am sick. Cross your fingers for my recovery!; I’m bored – entertain me!). The number of messages a user receives increases with the number of her social relationships embedded in SNS (Manago et al, 2012). As a result, SNS users might be confronted with an increasing number of social requests that require some form of reaction. This raises questions about the consequences of increasing SNS usage on a user’s life (Brandtzaeg, 2012; Amichai-Hamburger, 2013). On the one hand, social embeddedness through SNS can benefit SNS users, who experience more social support than non-SNS users (Hampton et al, 2011). On the other, users can be drawn into exhausting social situations. In particular, the many social relations enabled in SNS might cause users to feel they are giving too much social support in SNS to individuals embedded in their social network out of a sense of duty to respond to social support requests. We call this newly observed phenomenon ‘social overload’, and we will develop a theory of its impact in this paper. Social overload might have negative psychological and behavioral consequences. Such consequences, as elaborated in studies based on non-IT enabled social networks (Bliese & Britt, 2001) and social support theory (SST) (Caplan, 1974; Cassel, 1976; Cobb, 1976), emphasize the need to better understand the social exhaustion phenomenon, its drivers, and consequences in IT-enabled SNS as well. Some consequences may range from short-term exhaustion to long-term physiological, social, and/or psychological harm (Tarafdar et al, 2010) and could result in users reducing or complete stopping platform usage.

This research aims at identifying the possible negative effects of SNS usage on the individual (Brandtzaeg, 2012; Turel & Serenko, 2012; Amichai-Hamburger, 2013), as SNS replace other individual communication channels. In addition to being used to post personal messages to private and public social networks, SNS are also used by organizations in marketing (Culnan et al, 2010) and recruiting (Weitzel et al, 2009; Leidner et al, 2010) to communicate with external stakeholders, and for internal business communication (Majchrzak et al, 2009; Koch et al, 2012). In addition to causing stress, if social overload leads to reduction or stopping SNS channel usage, it could threaten user participation in social media. A better understanding of SNS is necessary to avoid such negative consequences, as well as those observed with other communication media (e.g., Barley et al, 2011).

The goal of this paper is to understand the phenomenon of social overload, its antecedents, and its consequences for the individual. As defined above, social overload is the negative perception of SNS usage when users receive too many social support requests and feel they are giving too much social support to other individuals embedded in their virtual social network. Increasing SNS usage for both private and professional communication and the societal need to understand drivers of possibly negative physiological, social, and psychological consequences of IT-enabled SNS motivate our research question: What are the antecedents of social overload and its consequences for SNS users?

In the following, we first discuss SNS as a technology enabling social connections among individuals and organizations and introduce SST as the theoretical base for developing the concept of social overload. Second, we develop social overload as a theoretical variable and derive hypotheses for its drivers and consequences. Third, using a study with 571 SNS users, we empirically evaluate social overload and the hypotheses. We then discuss the results, limitations, and implications for research and for practice.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on European Journal of Information Systems or e-mail christian.maier@uni-bamberg.de.

By Christian Maier, Sven Laumer, Andreas Eckhardt & Tim Weitzel

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An integrative marketing channel performance measurement framework - Introduction

Recent research into strategy implementation is damning in its findings. 'The reality is that traditional (marketing) implementation approaches have failed'. Similarly in the October 1999 issue of the Journal of Marketing, Noble and Mokwa wrote, '[Marketing] Implementation [...] is a critical link between formulation of marketing strategies and the achievement of superior organizational performance [...]. Yet, the nature of implementation and reasons for success or failure are understood poorly'.

According to Yeniyurt, the marketing field is now giving high priority to developing marketing metrics. The role of marketing channels is to implement marketing strategy. The difficulty of channel strategy is compounded by the emergence of e-channels and the need to integrate e-channels into traditional or 'bricks and mortar' channels. Ambler et al. contend that metrics usage is substantially moderated by (a company's) size and sector. The authors suggest that 'larger firms use more metrics and the needs of retail, for example, are different from those in the consumer goods sector'.

A fundamental proposition in marketing strategy is that distribution channels must be aligned with customers and competitive advantage. Unfortunately, channel performance measurement literature has provided ambiguous guidance to marketing managers. This paper addresses the problem by putting forward a conceptual model that uses strategy as the primary determinant of the characteristics of the performance measurement system.

Measurement plays a crucial role in strategy implementation according to Kaplan and Norton. Neely et al. conducted a review of the performance measurement literature. They observed that while many measurement frameworks have been developed and many others have offered criteria for the measurement system design, a generally pertinent systematic approach to performance measurement has not been built. In this respect, research in distribution channels has highlighted a 'channel performance metric paradox.' Because different systems and different channels necessitate particular measurement structure characteristics, it is impossible for a business organisation to maximise concurrently, all channel performance measures.

The literature argues, however, that the extent to which each determinant of performance impacts firm performance is a function of the performance metrics (see, eg Eccles; Neely; Simons). Further, Lebas and Euske define performance as 'the sum of all processes that will lead managers to taking appropriate actions in the present that will create a performing organisation in the future' or in other words, 'doing today what will lead to measured value outcomes tomorrow'.

This paper is conceptual in nature and while adopting Miles and Snow strategy types' framework, it offers a model that endeavours to reconcile the 'channel performance metric paradox'. In so doing, we show that in order to achieve marketing success, it is important to understand the relationship between channel performance measures and strategy deployment success. Our research seeks to identify that strategy is the key determinant of channel metric characteristics.

This paper is organised in the following way. First, a review of the performance measurement, marketing channels and strategy implementation literature is undertaken. Next, channel performance measurements are integrated with Miles and Snow's strategy implementation framework. Following that a research model that is specific to channels is developed with research propositions. Finally, guidance is provided to marketing managers in the use of the model in framing a system of marketing channel performance measurement.

The paper contributes to marketing practice by clarifying the key channel performance measures in an organisational context. It also identifies which performance measures should be emphasised to avoid the channel performance metric paradox. This paradox occurs where undesirable performance trade-offs occur when the improvement of one performance measure reduces the performance of another measure.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management.

By Michael J Valos & Andrea Vocino

Repost by Acarre Community Media

What makes for CRM system success or failure?

Payne and Frow argue that successful implementation of CRM programme depends upon four critical factors: 

            (1) CRM readiness assessment

            (2) CRM change management

            (3) CRM project management

            (4) employee engagement. 

A CRM readiness assessment is an overview audit which helps managers to assess the overall position in terms of readiness to progress with CRM implementations and to identify how well developed their organisation is relative to other companies. CRM change management involves strategic organisational change and cultural change. Senior level understanding, sponsorship, leadership and cross-functional integration are clearly critical in a complex CRM implementation. CRM project management requires forming cross-functional teams of specialists who manage the enterprise's CRM implementation programme. Successful CRM projects deliver against the CRM objectives derived from the corporate objectives and support the overall business strategy. Finally, employee engagement comprises support and commitment of the employees to CRM projects. Increasingly, firms recognise the significant value their employees contribute to the business, which extents well beyond the basic fulfilment of core duties. Companies cannot develop and operate appropriately customer-focussed CRM systems and processes without motivated and trained employees.

Various arguments have been put forward for the failure of CRM systems. Day suggests that main reason for CRM project failure is the lack of strategic planning prior to the implementation of CRM. Maselli found that the reasons for failure of many CRM initiatives ranged from technological implementation problems to a lack of organisational integration and customer orientation. Jain et al. state that most such failures are attributed to poor design, planning and measurement of CRM projects. They comment that capturing the wrong customer information, unclear goals, inappropriate selection and use of technology, inability to integrate people and processes and use of misleading metrics or improper measurement approaches are the major barriers in implementing and managing CRM projects. According to Kale, the seven deadly sins for unsatisfactory CRM outcome are: 

           (1) viewing the CRM initiative as a technology initiative; 

           (2) lack of customer-centric vision; 

           (3) insufficient appreciation of customer lifetime value; 

           (4) inadequate support from top management; 

           (5) underestimating the importance of change management; 

           (6) failing to re-engineer business processes; and 

           (7) underestimating the difficulties involved in data mining and data integration. 

He states that most executives are not even aware of these issues, even though they could spell disaster for their careers and for the company. Others argue CRM failures are heavily influenced by the firm's lack of ability to integrate CRM technologies into its functional processes.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management.

 

By Bryan Foss, Merlin Stone & Yuksel Ekinci

Repost by Acarre Community Media

CRM software applications and business performance

Much of the research into CRM implementation tends to focus either on its alleged failure to deliver business benefits, or the enabling and disabling conditions that impact on CRM performance. Sweat, for example, reported failure rates of between 25 and 80 per cent. Overly expensive investment in technology — both software and hardware — is cited as a significant cause of CRM's failure to deliver value. People issues are also implicated in the failure of CRM implementations. McKinsey reported that 59 per cent of companies who were successful in their CRM implementations addressed cultural change issues compared to 33 per cent of those who failed. More recently, Iriana and Buttle found that companies that promote an atmosphere of innovation or risk taking, hence creating a climate for employees to act in the best interest of customers tend to fare better in their CRM outcomes. But very little has been published about the deployment of CRM software, and its impact on company performance. In fact, the whole area is so under-researched, that it has been earmarked by the Marketing Science Institute to be a priority research area.

CRM software

     Literature in the area of CRM software has tended to centre on software package or vendor reviews, or case studies about its implementation. One case study into three companies concluded that one of the main concerns in adopting CRM software is that it is perceived to come in a 'one size fits all' package. This is fuelled by the fact that vendors tend to have a standardised view of what relationship management process should be, creating problems in flexibility and functionality.

      Two recent academic studies have begun to shed light on the impact of CRM-related technologies on company performance. Based on a sample of 172 US companies, split 50:50 between goods manufacturers and service organisations, Jayachandran et al. found that companies with relational information management processes (ie, they have interactive customer contact, from which customer information is captured, integrated and widely deployed and used across the business) tend to experience better customer satisfaction and customer retention outcomes. Furthermore, this association is even stronger when the company's CRM system is capable of front-office activities across the sales, marketing and service functions.

    In contrast, Reinartz et al. found a negative relationship between CRM technologies and the economic performance of firms. From a sample of 211 Swiss, German and Austrian companies across five industries (hospitality, power utilities, financial services and online retailing), they found that the more sophisticated companies are in their CRM technologies, the worse is their economic performance as judged subjectively by key informants. Furthermore, they found a significant interactive effect in that this negative relationship was most pronounced when companies were trying to initiate a relationship with customers (eg, customer acquisition or win-back of lost customers).

     In relation to our research objectives, it should be noted that these two studies do not directly evaluate the influence of CRM software, per se, but focus on the much broader issue of CRM-related technologies. Reinartz et al. chose company performance as their ultimate dependent variable, measuring this both objectively (using return on assets (RoA) data reported in the annual accounts), and subjectively (using key informants' assessments of overall performance, market share, growth and profitability). We believe that RoA is influenced by so many variables that it is not a useful dependent variable for the assessment of CRM-related investments. Neither of these two studies investigated the effects of CRM-related technologies on customer acquisition, retention and development outcomes. Rather, these activities were bundled together. We believe that customer acquisition, retention and development are strategically important business objectives in their own right, and merit assessment.

    Finally, both these studies have chosen different ways of conceptualising and operationalising similar constructs. Jayachandran et al. use 42 items to measure CRM technologies, while their dependent variable is a composite index of customer satisfaction and customer retention. Reinartz et al. measure CRM-related technologies using only four items, with the dependent variable being company performance.

    In summary, we are not aware of any academic study that looks at the performance of CRM software per se, rather than more broadly defined CRM technologies. Neither can we find any work that focuses on software's role in management of the customer lifecycle stages of acquisition, retention and development, user satisfaction with software return on investment (ROI) and the software's impact on business performance. Our aim is to fill this knowledge gap.

Further more information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management

By Lawrence Ang & Francis Buttle
Repost by Acarre Community Media

Corporate blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management

Corporate Blogs are fast emerging as new organizational tools for marketing, building brand relationships and Customer Relationship Management. This study has been conducted to analyse the ability of an organization to use its Corporate Blog as an e-CRM tool. We attempt to study the impact of brand communication (content type and volume), hosted on an organizational blog, on its ability to induce consumer engagement. Organizations can build relationships with their prospective and current consumers through posts on a Corporate Blog, and encourage them to participate by commenting on the blog, thereby stimulating consumer engagement. The variation in the organizational objective behind hosting each post on the blog is used to categorize the content posted on the blog. An exploratory study enables us to deduce the importance of content typologies in building a relationship with the customer. We are able to identify three types of content typologies – Organizational, Promotional and Relational. We further observe that Relational content hosted by an organization is able to induce greater volumes of consumer engagement (measured in terms of number of consumer comments) than any other content typology. The analysis of dependency of consumer engagement on the volume of content posted by the organization indicates a positive correlation between number of posts and volume of comments.

A Corporate Blog is an online repository serving as a virtual storehouse of information, where organizations post content for consumer consumption. Objectives include – providing a solution to exploratory consumer browsing, aiding a consumer's quest for information, helping consumers gain access to organizational promotional campaigns and responding to controversies regarding organization/product. This creates consumer involvement with this organizational endeavour and eventually achieves consumer engagement for the organization, as the consumer commences participation. Content categorization is done to enable organizations to post consumer-relevant content to induce greater consumer participation. Dependency analysis and regression are used to study the relationship between volume of content posted by the organization and its ability to stimulate greater consumer engagement. This article addresses the need for hosting the appropriate content on an organizational initiative, which, by matching consumer requirements, helps develop a relationship between organization and consumer. The scope of future work is outlined, wherein the knowledge capital created through exchange with consumers can be mined to extract explicit information, which can be leveraged from the organizational perspective for diffusion and exploitation, for subsequent competitive advantage. According to the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2009 (Figure 1), Corporate Blogging has moved up from the Trough of Disillusionment and is now in the Slope of Enlightenment, inching slowly towards wide-scale mainstream adoption as more and more benefits become visible.

Further information about this articles, please you check on Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management.

By Vandana Ahuja & Yajulu Medury

Repost by Acarre Community Media

A Brief Introduction to Transfer Pricing

Transfer pricing means determination of fair market value i.e. arm's length price. If two or more associated enterprises enter into an agreement for allocation of expenses with respect to the service provided then the determination of expenses shall be on the basis of arms length price of service providers.  

ASSOSIATED ENTERPRISE:

Two enterprises shall be deemed to be associated enterprise:

-If the particular company is involved directly or indirectly in the management, control, or the capital of the other company. 

-If any person of the respective company who is involved directly or indirectly in the management, control, or the capital of one company is involved directly or indirectly in the management, control, or the capital of the other company. 

Apart from the above there are many provision defined under Section 92A of the Income-tax Act, 1961.  

INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION:

The term international transaction includes:
a) Transfer or use of tangible and intangible property.
 b) Provision of services.

c) Financing includes lending, borrowing or guarantee and other transaction having a bearing on profit income losses of such enterprises. 

d) Transaction arrived from business restructuring.

As per section 92B transaction is an international transaction if it is done between two associate enterprises and at least one of them must be nonresident. But sometimes transaction between enterprises and an unrelated person shall be deemed to be transaction between associate enterprise if there is an existence of prior agreement and the term of transaction determined between such person and associates enterprises. 

SPECIFIED DOMESTIC TRANSACTION: 

The finance act 2012 came with further amendments which includes specified domestic transaction. According to section 92AB and sections 92, 92C, 92D and 92E, "specified domestic transaction" transaction not being an international transaction includes:

"The transaction entered into by the assessees in the previous year exceeds INR5crore."

The Finance Bill 2012 has cast Transfer pricing regulation net wider and deeper by substantially expanding the scope of transfer pricing services provisions by including domestic transactions for the first time. The following transactions will be included if their aggregate exceeds INR 50 million in an Financial Year

i) Any expenditure to which section 40A applies 

ii) Any transaction referred in section 80A 

iii) Any transaction with a person specified in 80-IA (10) 

iv) Any transaction referred in Chapter VI-A, Section 10AA to which 80(10) or 80(18) applies 

v) Any other transaction which may be prescribed  

MAINTENANCE OF DOCUMENTS:

Every person enters into international transaction should have to maintain information and documents this is not applicable if international transaction does not exceeds 1crore.and require to kept for 8 years from the end of relevant assessment year. The assessing officer may require furnishing the documents and information from NA. Then NA should have to furnish the documents within 30 days from the notice.  

SAFE HARBOUR RULE:

Arms length price under sec. 92C to sec. 92CA shall be subjected to safe harbour rules in which income tax authorities shall accept the transfer price declared by the NA.  

PENALTIES:

a) A Penalty of 2% of the value of international transaction may be imposed, if the taxpayer fails to maintain prescribed documents or information or; report any international transaction which is required to be reported, or; maintains or furnishes any incorrect information or documents. 

b) If there is any disallowance made on the basis of arm's length price and penalty for concealment of income ranging from 100% to 300%of the amount of tax sought to be evaded. 

c) If NA failed to furnish the reports to the income tax authorities within due date then the amount of penalties is INR 1 lacs (adjust exchange rates). 

NOTE : Variation of 1% with arm's length price is permissible. More information at Accounting forte 

By Shubham
Repost by Acarre Media Community

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Different Ways To Get Traffic Part 3

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content 

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page.
every site wants it and every site needs it.

- The along with it is another tell a friend script.

- The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.

- With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one.

- Using Google Adwords To Drive Laser Targeted Traffic The biggest well known secret in generating wealth in the internet based business or e-commerce is Traffic.

- Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

- All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free.

 For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale site. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic.

Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados.
There are thousands of competition that is all too willing to get a bigger share of the pie.
Worse of all, you business could just get killed.

This allows for the introduction of either the site, company name or its products.
The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
Ever wonder how does big hit sites drive traffic top their site?

With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume.
They use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product by riding on in other forms of addictive means that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

It doesn't matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don't know that you exist, it doesn't matter, and you are not going to make it big.

You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.

By John Dualbank
Reprint : Acarre Community Media

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Different Ways To Get Traffic Part 2

3) Traffic

Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don't have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site.
The internet generates hundreds of thousands upon hundred of thousands of traffic everyday.

You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours. Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. A classic example is Microsoft's Hotmail. Other than that these are also traffic that can be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you for a sizeable portion of the traffic that you have generated.

If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won't block it and open it as well. In the search results page you will see many links that will direct you to a site where you can get a tell a friend script.

Precision marketing is essential so that you could count on all the traffic on your site as potential customers. To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmickries.
With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites.

This drives traffic into the site resulting to great number of potential customers.
A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there's a great probability that they will go to your site.

Exchange Links 
This is a sure and proven method. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well.

- Monetizing your traffic would optimize your chances of making the best out of it.

- You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational.

- Many programs can keep track and make records of transactions that was made possible because of site linkage.

- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites.

- With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one. Yes that's right;

- Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

- This is a simple harmless script that offers great benefits for low cost paired with great creativity and foresight.

- There are so many ways and methods to monetize your traffic.

- Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results.

- Traffic Exchange this is like exchanging links but on a different higher level. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

Business
- They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide.

- It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links.

- But if done successfully this could open up a Pandora's Box of possibilities.

- They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide.

- In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search.

- With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

- Then the process begins again.

By John Dualbank
Reprint : Acarre Community Media

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Different Ways To Get Traffic part 1

Every article you will find about making your site or company successful would always include the importance of generating traffic. Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page.

1) Most of us are into it for the money

When a person types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the search engines gives out the results in a page.

You'll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.But this is subjected to the niche the site features.If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. The internet has made the world a smaller place; the internet has made the world a smaller place; you also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site. Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines.

- If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already.
- One good way of spending money for business gain is through advertising.
- There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter.
- The benefit greatly overshadows the cost or efforts to initialize this marketing scheme.
- They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites with exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic.

If you are contending in these very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment.
Viral Marketing could be a sneaky way to get people to know about you and your company.
So once again, what is search engine optimization?

The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad may come up if you have designated that as one of your keywords.This is done vice versa where a site can use your sites contents and so can you to his or her site.How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. it also takes money to make money. So, to get to the core of it the more traffic you generate the more likely you are considered as a desirable, desirable, in a sense that a good traffic flowing site is easily convertible to profit.

- It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad.
- If you already have a site and you want think that you're not getting the traffic that you're supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider.
- Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization.
- These sites also show Adwords ads that react to searches done by visitors.

By John Dualbank
Reprint :Acarre Community Media

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Different Ways To Get Traffic part 2

3) Traffic

Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don't have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site.
The internet generates hundreds of thousands upon hundred of thousands of traffic everyday.

You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours. Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. A classic example is Microsoft's Hotmail.

Other than that these are also traffic that can be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you for a sizeable portion of the traffic that you have generated. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won't block it and open it as well.

In the search results page you will see many links that will direct you to a site where you can get a tell a friend script. Precision marketing is essential so that you could count on all the traffic on your site as potential customers. To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmickries.
With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites.

This drives traffic into the site resulting to great number of potential customers.
A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there's a great probability that they will go to your site.

Exchange Links
This is a sure and proven method. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. Monetizing your traffic would optimize your chances of making the best out of it.

- You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational.
- Many programs can keep track and make records of transactions that was made possible because of site linkage.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites.
- With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one. Yes that's right;
- Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.
- This is a simple harmless script that offers great benefits for low cost paired with great creativity and foresight.
- There are so many ways and methods to monetize your traffic.
- Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results.
- Traffic exchange this is like exchanging links but on a different higher level.
- If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

Business
They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide.
It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links.

- But if done successfully this could open up a Pandora's Box of possibilities.
- They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide.
- In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search.
- With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people. Then the process begins again.

By John Dualbank
Reprint : Acarre Community Media

Family Business Succession Planning is Strategic Planning in 2014

Family Business succession planning, by way of definition, is the orderly transition of the company from the current generation of owners to the next, the folks who are going to be owning and running the operation in the 21st. Century. Seamless management succession and ownership transition is the benefit, the goal, the objective on virtually every successful business owner's mind.

The benefits of the family business succession process begin the day you get serious about designing the future you want for your company and your family. And the process continues forever, just like your family's involvement in the business will extend far beyond the lifetimes of everyone living today.

Here three key planning elements uniquely intertwined with each other to create the succession and planning process, at least one that is both seamless and financially successful.

Strategic planning is a key element of the family business succession process. You may not use such this expression in your daily discussions, even thinking it belongs exclusively to Fortune 500 companies, but strategic planning is what you're doing when you plan beyond the next twelve months - consistently rolling your planning ahead of you as you go. Family business strategic planning is also about management training and leadership development for your successors so they'll be ready to assume full responsibility when the time is right. 
Let's face it, we've seen this from our industry peers, there are some mistakes your business can absorb and keep right on chugging along and there are some that will totally destroy what has been created. Today mistakes about where you're headed can destroy your momentum and ultimately your entire operation. Start today by identifying who's going to be in the next generation operating your business and then get started with the leadership and management training they'll need to be able to do so successfully.

Succession planning is the process where you pick the people to run the place in the future and begin empowering them to conserve what you've built and leverage your efforts to grow the operation bigger in the future. Growth is critical in order to generate the profits required to meet the security needs of the retiring generation, provide a fair share of the company's value to the heirs whose interests do not include the family business, and reward the successors for their risks and hard work.

When you start now to open up areas of responsibility, in the eyes of your successors not just yours, you'll send the right messages about your intentions for the future. Estate planning, the wills, trusts, buy-sell agreements, and all the contracts required to fulfill your succession and planning requirements DO NOT come last.

Family business estate planning is critical, too critical to be put off, because it establishes the ground rules, faces the tax consequences, and gives the force of law to the strategies that will result in your wishes being spelled out for all to see. Estate planning decisions need to be made today based on what you know today, where everything is today, and based on the best advice available today.

As time goes by and the other elements of your family business succession plan fall into place you simply have your advisors update your estate planning documents. How many movies have you seen where the old tyrant dies without having changed his will for decades - leaving the heirs and those who though they were heirs to fight over the spoils, resulting in another mystery for Lt.Columbo to solve. Don't let that be you!
Over the last thirty years people have said to me, "but our business/farm is different" and it is. Often this comment was made in an effort to convince me that their situation was so unique it defied the experts and therefore their lack of planning was justified.

Family business succession then is the result. Your company and family's unique situation addressed using well considered strategies that are being used successfully by others.

By WMEssick - mastermind group
Repost : Acarre Community Media

More information for these contributor us : b2b Mastermind Groups

10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Steve Jobs

The man, who has an estimated net worth of $8.3 million certainly has a wealth of experience and key attributes beneficial for successful enterprise. We'll run a few by you.

1. Know your capabilities, delegating tasks accordingly.

In Apple's early days of expansion, Jobs sought an experienced executive to serve as Apple's CEO. Having been described at the time as an erratic and temperamental manager, he wooed John Sculley from Pepsi-Cola, asking: "Do you want to sell sugar for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?"

2. Do not be too proud to collaborate with 'competitors' if it is in your best interest.

Upon his return to Apple, Jobs made the decision to partner with their rivals, Microsoft. Under the deal, Microsoft agreed to produce software for the Macintosh, significantly aiding the launch of Apple's new products.

3. Be a perfectionist.

After initially returning to Apple as interim chief executive, Jobs led the company through one of the most dramatic transformations in business history, increasing their stock almost a hundredfold. Known for his aggressive and demanding personality, Apple employees were said to be afraid of encounters with Jobs.

4. Maintain occasional personal interaction with your customers.

As the news of Job' resignation transcends around the world and social media platforms, the majority of mentions are positive. In particular Apple customers are appreciative of the 'urban legend' of Jobs' personally replying to emails. No doubt, as workload increases, not everyone will be able to do this, but the occasional interaction is well-received.

5. Do not get comfortable.

Jobs' career has been a rollercoaster, and he has never been afraid to move on or try his hand at a new venture. After being dismissed from Apple in 1985 he went on to start another company - NeXT. He then went on to buy the company which would later be known as Pixar, before becoming the largest single Disney shareholder when it bought Pixar. He returned to Apple in 1996.

6. Stay grounded.

The cult image of Jobs in his trademark jeans, black shirt and trainers, created a down-to-earth perception of the inventor. His engaging and dynamic manner of exciting crowds during keynote speeches even led to them being renamed 'Stevenotes.'

7. Keep people guessing.
An archetypal part of Jobs' Stevenotes was his trademark phrase at the end of presentations.

After his concluding remarks, Jobs would turn to leave the stage and say: "But there's one more thing..." after which he would unveil a new Apple product. Products unveiled at this stage include the MacBook Pro, iPod Touch and Facetime video calling for the iPhone 4.

8. Work relentlessly, maintaining a hands-on approach with your company or products.

Jobs has been named as the inventor or co-inventor of over 230 patents and patent applications. The array of products he has worked on include: computer and portable user interfaces, speakers, keyboards and power adaptors.

9. Aspire to position your company at the helm of your industry, anticipating emerging trends.

Apple has been known for their innovative and groundbreaking products, especially under Jobs leadership. This is due to the visionary approach the company takes towards design and usability. Jobs has summed up this sentiment stating: "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will." Apply these sentiments to your field and you'll be onto a winner.

10. Know when to step down in the interest of your company.

Jobs letter of resignation to Apple Inc. states "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

Despite his shock resignation, Jobs will still remain involved with the company as Chairman at Apple and will continue his role in Disney's endeavours in the future. Hopefully the business world can learn more from him yet.

By Josh Tyler - marketing exec Easily.co.uk
Reprint : Acarre Community Media

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